eastern tomorrow. use the hash tag cnn valentine and on valentine's day we'll show the best videos on cnn and on our website as well. here is an example of one of them. "cnn newsroom" continues with brooke baldwin. 4,000 people are stuck. right now, on a cruise ship, with sewage running down the walls, toilets broken. fistfights over food. you'll hear from one of the passengers. i'm brooke baldwin. the news is now. a dad is charged with murder for allegedly killing the drunk driver who ran over his two young sons. we're on the case. plus, north korea rattles the world by launching a nuclear test. i'll tell you when america should be worried. and -- >> the president of the united states! >> -- inside the most bizarre moments from past state of the union addresses.

my tv crush john berman joins me live. wait until you see what he found. hi, everyone. i'm brooke baldwin. want to begin with the hottest stories in a flash. we call it rapid fire. roll it. a carnival cruise ship that broke down at sea, now on its way to mobile, alabama. folks on board say the ship, food and water are scarce and the smell of sewage, sickening. listen. >> sewage, raw sewage, pretty bad. when you walk in the hallways, you have to cover your face. we don't have any masks. >> this sewage is apparently running down the walls. and, to make matters worse, the ship is moving very slowly. i'm talking on lawn mower speed.

new revelations today about pope benedict's health. did you know he has a pacemaker? this appears to be the first time the vatican has acknowledged that. his spokesman says the device did not have any bearing in the pope's decision to resign. doctors replaced the pacemaker's batteries just a couple of months ago in a routine procedure. meanwhile, take a look at this. just a couple of hours after the pope announced his resignation yesterday, this is the picture seen around the world. lightning appeared in the sky of a st. peters basilica. stunning. he cannot leave yet that does not mean leon panetta cannot say good-bye. and that is precisely what the defense secretary did today in his farewell ceremony. this is just outside the pentagon. he spoke about his challenges

his replacement must face. >> you're going to have to continue to deal with rogue states like iran and north korea. we just saw what north korea has done in the last few weeks. a missile test and now a nuclear test. they represent a serious threat to the united states of america. we have got to be prepared to deal with that. >> deal with that, he says. panetta has been leading the pentagon for the last 18 months. but he's been in public service for the last five decades. live this hour, big moment for chuck hagel, the man president obama would like to become the next secretary of defense. the senate armed forces committee holding a vote on hagel's nomination. and while it is likely he will be confirmed, several republicans, they're still putting up a fight. that happens this hour. also, cereal and soda? pepsi introducing a new mountain dew drink for, dare i say, breakfast, calling it kick start. the company says it doesn't consider this an energy drink, even though, yes, it is packed

with caffeine. why the new product? mountain dew says customers wanted an alternative to coffee and tea in the morning. and tomorrow is ash wednesday, which means today is fat tuesday. okay, i tweeted this out. this is a colossal waste of time and can't stop watching it. you can watch this on one of the live cams. mardi gras in full swing. we have been hearing trumpets from this live web cam. this is bourbon street. it is new orleans' biggest tourist draw with more than 50 parades. mardi gras is the feast and celebration before lent, a time of fasting for catholics. huge blow, have you heard about this, to one of the world's oldest sports. international olympic committee says it is recommending wrestling be cut from the 2020 summer games. wrestling has been in the olympics ever since 1896. the wrestling federation says it plans to fight this one and officials have to make their case against seven other sports

and only one will survive. ♪ >> that is kesha. she's headlining the all-star game, the pregame show. she'll be joining ludacris and bob in houston. you can watch it on tnt sunday night. a big story brewing in washington today. the president's state of the union address. 9:00 p.m. this evening. and major announcement on america's longest war. what you're seeing right there, that, of course, that is the president entering -- this is last year's state of the union. tonight, he will tell the nation more than half of our troops are coming home from afghanistan. folks, we have been there 11 plus years. the president is set to announce he's bringing home 34,000 u.s. troops, 34,000 troops, gone from

afghanistan, by this time next year, 2014. that, do the math, cuts the force by a little more than half, so you will have 32,000 u.s. troops still in afghanistan into 2014. stay tuned. because we will hit on this a little later, this major troop withdrawal from afghanistan. i want to talk now about tonight, about the state of the union, about gun control. and, yes, ted nugent. >> if barack obama becomes the president in november, again, i will either be dead or in jail by this time next year. >> that man, ted nugent, says he will come to the speech tonight unarmed, not a bad idea, but here you have prominent gun right supporter, how do i say this, known to be a little excitable? you with me. he'll be right there in that regal house chamber for tonight's state of the union. ted nugent will be the guest of steve stockman, house republican. stockman, from texas, says ted

nugent's a patriot. here is more of ted nugent, again, speaking last april. >> our president and attorney general, our vice president, hillary clinton, they're criminals. they're criminals. >> so, you could say interesting. let's talk about this. let me bring in from new york, amy holmes, anchor for the blaze, glenn beck's network. in washington, cnn political analyst and democratic strategist cornell belcher. here in atlanta, patricia murphy, contributor to the dailybeast.com. welcome. the first question i want to ask is should ted nugent be at the speech tonight? amy holmes, what do you think? >> sure, why not? we know citizens are often invited to state of the unions to underscore political points. usually the president has folks sitting alongside the first lady so why not have a congress and bring in ted nugent who will underscore an issue, which, by the way, has bipartisan support when it comes to the second

amendment. we talked about it on my show quite a bit that you have six democratic senators up for re-election in red states that mitt romney won. and you're seeing that when it comes to, say, the assault weapons ban, you're ghoeting the type of democratic buy-in that the president sort of suggests. >> maybe on universal background checks, but you're right, in terms of -- >> while the suggestion is that ted nugent is somehow extreme or to the right on this issue, he's actually alongside a lot of democrats. >> cornell, what do you think? do you agree with that? >> that's absolutely ridiculous. ted nugent is an extremist. and who spews forth some of the vilist crazy stuff you ever heard in your life. if you don't believe me, google it. the idea he's mainstream and he should be invited by a member of congress to sit in the state of the union shows you how far we have gone over the deep end and just how far the tea partyism has taken over the republican party. there should be no place for that sort of extremism at the

state of the union. it is not for that. it is a time for both parties to try to bring people together. i think you'll hear from the president sort of talk about how to bring people together while at the same time, you know, you got guys inviting ted nugent to the state of the union. it is bad. and it looks bad for republicans. >> patricia, amy is right, though, members of congress, they can bring a plus one if you will sometimes to events like this. what kind of, i don't know, signal, message do you think congressman stockman is trying to do by bringing someone such as a ted nugent? >> i think it is a very in your face message toward the president. i think it is very disrespectful, it is extremely provocative. i think it is actually the exact message that republican leaders don't want to be sending. they have somebody like marco rubio coming up and giving the response to the president. they're trying very hard to rebrand the party to be less extreme, to be more concerned about the everyday issues people are facing and to bring ted nugent really distracts from that message that the larger

republican body wants to concentrate on and steve stockman who has a history of being looney tunes on a whole variety of issues, this is par for the course for him. >> he's making other news today. more news today because apparently he'll be live tweeting the state of the union address. so that's making ripples because some folks are saying it is rude. on the other hand, you can say the white house is doing the same. but that will also make the headlines a little later tonight. you did mention marco rubio. we'll get to that, that response and the tea party response. can we give props to dana bash, our chief congressional correspondent. she never stops working. and today she ran down, of all people, the speaker of the house, john boehner. let me play this sound. this is john boehner on tonight's state of the union. >> i hope we hear something new tonight. i hope it is something new about the economy and jobs. and not the same old dribble about higher taxes and more government spending. >> so, boehner says no more of the same old dribble, his words. and these are the words of david

gergen, our senior political analyst. the suspicion deepens, writes gergen, that the obama folks have secretly adopted a strategy of making republicans look so extreme that they will be driven from power in 2014, and the president can then govern the country as he chooses in his final two years in office. patricia, let me start with you here. will we know after the speech whether david gergen's suspicion is true, that the president is done with boehner and the republicans? wants to run him out of town? >> we'll have a very good idea. i think the first shot across the bow from the president toward the house republicans was his inaugural address. it was something i think most people expected him to reach out -- to reach a hand out to house republicans, to sort of say, okay, the fights are over, let's start to work together. he didn't do that at all. and house republicans were really quite livid, very surprised and he marched forward with an agenda that was quite liberal with gun control, with gay rights, with talking a whole bunch about climate change. these are very near and dear

issues to democrats not republicans. they don't want to work with him on it. they think that we'll know tonight if he's going to stick with that agenda, which is about his goals and what are near and dear to him, or is he going to tack more to the center to get things done, particularly on the budget. that's the elephant in the room, the biggest problem for the country and is he go heing to reach reach a hand across and try to work with him on it. >> i will be listening tonight for if the president is giving a state of the union that is about governing, as patricia suggested, working with republicans to try to get legislation passed, or if it is going to be a speech as was suggested in the washington post yesterday, about circumventing congress through executive action. that would be a very brazen sort of message to deliver. >> if he does? >> -- 535 elected officials to tell them i plan to ram through my agenda through executive order, basically, an imperial presidency and announcing that tonight that would be pretty shocking, and i think that you would have a pretty vigorous republican response.

>> cornell, weigh in. let me get to this first. this is something else we want to talk about. tonight we'll have not just one but two republican responses. one from florida senator marco rubio, the official republican response. and the other one from rand paul, and i guess you call this the tea party response. cornell, what do you think of all that? both of these people? >> well, first of all, let me get back to the point earlier. it is hilarious to me that a republican congress that has an approval -- disapproval rating of 72%, 72% disapproval of a republican congress, you know, somehow the president needs to be coming to them and the president has literally doubled at the approval rating -- the president has got to keep bending over backward to come to republicans. that doesn't make any sense. i think it is problematic for republicans the duelling speeches because it shows the world there is a divide in the

republican -- with republicans nationally, with the tea party and more establishment republicans. i mean, it is not at all helpful for americans to see sort of how divided the republicans are. the understanding that this divide among the republicans is part of the problem with washington and why nothing is moving. >> cornell belcher, amy holmes, patricia murphy, thank you for weighing in. we'll be watching tonight. do not forget to catch cnn's special coverage tonight begins at 7:00 eastern, right here live on cnn. it felt like an earthquake, but something just as powerful has rattled the world here. north korea detonating a nuclear bomb. so what does this latest act of defiance mean to americans? but i'm still stubbed up. [ male announcer ] truth is, nyquil doesn't unstuff your nose. what? [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus liquid gels speeds relief to your worst cold symptoms plus has a decongestant for your stuffy nose. thanks. that's the cold truth!

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then you're going to love this. right now they're only $14.95! wow-a grt deal just got a whole lot better. hurry. $14.95 won't last. the u.n. calling an emergency meeting issuing a strong condemnation and promising to do more. the reason, north korea detonated a nuclear bomb overnight. keep in mind this is the north's third underground test, and really it is the most powerful yet. we're talking about roughly half the strength of the bomb that dropped on hiroshima in world war ii.

>> translator: this nuclear test was conducted as a realistic response to protecting the safety and sovereignty of our country against the intrusion of the united states' atrocious hostile activity, opposing our country's right to launch a legitimate peaceful satellite. >> a warning for the u.s., the test inciting anger and condemnation from the white house, all the way to beijing. let me explain. this was a test. i want to just emphasize that. south korea broadcasting this animation here. this is what they saw, showing the series of tunnels here in north korea's underground test site. this is how we know they did it. so while you were sleeping, this blast here was felt all throughout asia. what's north korea's goal, you ask? to figure out a way to miniaturize a warhead and strap it to a rocket. two people i want to bring in. pentagon correspondent barbara starr and cnn executive editor mr. lister, tim lister.

barbara, let me begin with you. we saw this animation video from north korea last week, shows, you know, a launch in a burning american city. i want you to just explain to me north korea's capability, lack thereof of dropping a nuclear bomb on a city like new york. >> well, look, brooke, the real concern right at this minute is whether or not north korea really did what they say they did, which is detonate a device underground that was miniaturized and yet more powerful. miniaturization, making a smaller device with maximum lethality is the key to putting a nuclear weapon on the front end of a missile, a long range ballistic missile, that can then travel thousands of miles and potentially, potentially strike the united states. they did a missile test in december. they did put something up into space, they were successful with that. they have now claimed they have succeeded in miniaturization. if they put those two things together, this, analysts say,

moves north korea potentially have being just a rogue nation of bad actors into being a potential strategic threat. >> miniaturization, a word we're learning today to maximize the damage. tim lister, i want to bring you in. on the flip side, on our end of things in the united states, we know there have been hundreds of underground bunker tests. in fact, a bit of an incident in nevada. how dangerous are these here? >> they're a lot safer than doing it above ground or underwater. and those sort of tests were banned in the '60s. the last underground test before north korea started its underground tests were india and pakistan. look at this picture. >> what are we doing? >> this is not north korea. this is not the south pacific this is nevada, 1970. the test side where it all went wrong because there was too much dampness underground. the geological formations hadn't been particularly well worked out. you had this radioactive dust cloud erupting to 10,000 feet above the nevada desert. >> wow. >> and several dozen men were

contaminated by this. and in fact there were lawsuits that went on for quite some time claiming that leukemia had been generated by this cloud. so it is not particularly safe, and you've got to wonder the north koreans have carried out three tests. what is happening to the geology there? it wouldn't affect the united states so much as it would their immediate neighbors, obviously. >> who is helping north korea here? is it china? >> you know this is now the dilemma for the intelligence community. it is like, think of it as "csi" north korea but you can't go to the crime scene to investigate. they're going to look at the test results and work their way backwards at the cia, trying to figure out, okay, if this was the test, how did they get there? do they really have the expertise to do it themselves or did they get help and perhaps maybe not china, maybe iran, maybe pakistan, a lot of concern that iranian scientists have traveled to north korea and that they are sharing their expertise

and that, of course, takes this nuclear threat right back to iran, potentially. >> barbara starr, tim lister, thank you, both, very much. i appreciate it. up next, this fantastic story, this homeless man finds something shiny in a cup carrying loose change. and what happens next means the world to one woman.

a kansas city woman's good deed nearly broke her heart. she accidentally dropped her engagement ring into this cup, this homeless man was holding when she was giving him loose change. she thought she would never see the ring again. she was wrong. betsy webster from cnn affiliate kctv has this amazing story. >> spare change today, sir. god bless. spare some change today, sir? thank you. god bless you. >> reporter: billy ray harris got that change and then some. >> the ring was so big. i knew if it was real, it was expensive. >> reporter: he didn't notice it until after an hour. >> my rings were bothering me. i put them in my coin purse. >> reporter: sarah didn't realize what she had done until the next day. >> i was so incredibly upset because, i mean, more than just the value of the ring, it had

sentimental value. >> reporter: it was her engagement ring. >> spare the change today, sir. >> reporter: billy ray didn't know that but he knew how sentiment matters more than money. >> she squatted down like you did right there and says do you remember me? and i was, like, i don't know. i see a lot of people. she said, i might have gave you something very valuable? i said was it a ring. she said, yeah. i said, i have it. >> it seemed like a miracle. i thought i would never get it back. >> reporter: makes you wonder why he didn't pawn it and start a new life. >> my grandfather was a reverend. he raised me from the time i was 6 months old. and thank the good lord, i do still have some character. >> i think in our world we often just jump to like the worst conclusion. and it just makes you realize there are good people out there. >> god bless you. >> how about that? by the way, this is not the first valuable that billy ray harris has found in the plaza. he says a couple of years ago, he returned a super bowl ring a

football player lost while drinking. a frenzied 911 call as an athlete stops breathing. we're on the case next. [ indistinct shouting ] ♪ [ indistinct shouting ] [ male announcer ] time and sales data. split-second stats. [ indistinct shouting ] ♪ it's so close to the options floor... [ indistinct shouting, bell dinging ] ...you'll bust your brain box. ♪ all on thinkorswim from td ameritrade. ♪ to volunteer to help those in need. when a twinge of back pain surprises him.

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bottom of the hour. i'm brooke baldwin. here is the story, this teenager suddenly stops breathing. call goes out to 911. but the dispatcher won't send an

ambulance until he gets the exact address where this child is, even after naming the school. this happened to a los angeles family, according to our l.a. affiliate. listen as the coach of a collapsed soccer player is talking to the dispatcher. >> okay, sir, can you repeat your address please? >> it's wilmington middle school. >> what's the address, sir? >> wilmington middle school field. i don't know the -- >> okay, that's not an address, sir. that's just the name of the school. >> where's the address. do you know the address? wilmington middle school. >> okay, i'm sitting at a desk. i don't know where you're at. i have no idea just because it's a school. i need an address. >> that sound, by the way, was edited for clarity. the coach and those on the scene scramble as the -- trying to find the address, tell the dispatcher, they tell them the wrong one. kcbs reports by the time the ambulance gets to the boy, jesus

sambrano, 30 minutes passed and rescuers could not revive the 16-year-old. on the case with holly hughes. to be crystal clear, they still do not know why he died. but you can hear the audio in that 911 call and so clearly he's at a specific school, family told kcbs they believe the ambulance delay resulted in this 16-year-old's death. there is no lawsuit yet. if there were to be, would that family have a strong case? >> not as strong as you think. and that sounds outrageous. people are thinking, my gosh this boy died because of your delay. number one,ve it is very diffict to sue a county organization, public defenders or in this case the 911 operators because you have to get a special waver from their commission, their county commission, in order to be able to sue them. secondly, you have got to prove a causal link. and while we're all horrified and, you know, the emotional

outrage is this dispatcher is somehow responsible, this dispatcher is trying to get the information he's trained to get. i need an address, please give me an address. he doesn't hang up or say call back when you know where you're at. he's saying, you know, i don't have a way to access that address. what we see is a breakdown in the actual system itself. and i know they're correcting this now. they're taking steps to input the addresses of every school in their district into the 911 system so it automatically pops up. but as far as being able to prove that what this dispatcher did in delaying is the reason, the causal connection for this young man's death, i just don't see it. >> well, we should let you know that l.a. fire department not commenting on the death because it is an open investigation. kcbs did speak with the deputy fire chief and the reporter asked a question that perhaps all of you are thinking. here it was. >> couldn't the dispatcher just simply pull up google maps, put in wilmington middle school and get an address within seconds?

>> possible. again, this incident is being investigated. for a call taker to type in wilmington middle school, they're not going to get an address. so we wouldn't be able to determine which resource to send. >> we all have google maps, right? how hard is it? what is the responsibility ultimately from the dispatcher? >> well, what you need to understand is their system may not be set up where he has access to the internet. that's one of the reasons they're putting these, what we call remedial measures into place, after the fact, we're looking back and saying as a result of this tragedy, we're learning we need to input this information ahead of time. if this particular dispatcher did not have access to the -- he can't leave his station. he's attached with his earbud to a call. what we need to do is revamp the actual system itself because you and i, yes, we can play on our phone, but we're on the set right now. i don't have my cell phone with

me. you may have access to a computer, but i wouldn't. so if somebody needed me to google something immediately, i wouldn't have access to it at my work station. >> okay. holly hughes, thank you. >> thank you. >> sad all the way around. changes it sounds like are on the way. a dad is charged with murder for allegedly killing the drunken driver who ran over his two young sons. could this be a case of vigilante justice? my panel weighs in. my doctor told me calcium is efficiently absorbed in small continuous amounts. citracal slow release continuously releases calcium plus d with efficient absorption in one daily dose.

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i'm brooke baldwin. for the next 20 minutes, we're talking about hot topics. hot topics you'll be talking about at the dinner table tonight. we start with the story of this father. arrested and charged with murder in an alleged revenge killing. according to the houston chronicle, last december, david barajas and his boys were pushing their family car along this county road in texas. the truck had broken down. they were 150 yards from their

driveway when suddenly a car comes around, slams into the truck and the two boys. one died there on the scene. the other died shortly after at hospital. when investigators arrived, they discovered the driver of the crashed car had twice the legal limit of alcohol in his system, and a bullet wound in his head. today, david barajas is in jail after a grand jury indicted him for the murder of this drunken driver who killed the two young sons. the witness told police he heard gunshots. i want to talk about this with rachel sklar, sally richardson, appearing in lifetime's pastor brown this weekend, and howard kurtz. what a story to chew on. and to the parents on the panel,

howard and sally, let me begin with you, howard, as a parent, for just a second, can you sympathize with this father? >> i can absolutely understand as a parent the mixture of anger and grief you must feel to have your children snatched away from you, particularly if as alleged it is done by a drunk driver. but we don't have a system of vigilante justice in this country. if the facts are as alleged, it sounds like an execution, and he acted as the judge and the jury and he carried out the sentence and i don't think even a great lawyer will be able to get him off. >> sally what about you, as a mom? >> well, just watching this story makes me sad. but i think that if there was ever a story for someone going crazy that this would be one. but also i think it is a case of why we need to have stricter gun laws. if you didn't have that gun in his house, if it wasn't so easy for him to get it, then maybe the most he could have done was beat the guy to a -- >> let me get one more detail on

this. it was worse than any movie scene because it was real. the next question, conner, to you, this grand jury, they absolutely indict him for murder because, let me quote them, they reject this crime of passion defense because the guy had the time, his kids are hit by this oncoming drunk driver, goes home, sort of assumption is he grab his gun and goes back, but this is alleged. if you're a member of the grand jury, what do you think? >> i think that's the key distinction here is that this is someone, i mean, even though it is a short walk, 150 yards, he had that time to go, load the gun, come back, and i think that for that reason alone they won't be able to play off that crime of passion defense. i would imagine the grand jury would go that way if that's all true. >> rachel what is your takeaway? >> i think we need expert testimony to that effect. this is why we have experts

weighing in in terms of sentences and in terms of figuring out what level of crime we're talking about. and to the extent that he -- it may have been a crime of passion, you have to assess his mental state, whether or not he was in his right mind, whether or not he had chance to appreciate his actions or whether or not he was blinded by grief, fury. this is where experts would come in. the fact of the matter is this wasn't something he plotted and it wasn't like a preplanned thing. this was a very reactive thing. so, again, it is not for any of us to be able to assess unfortunately. but you would have to have an expert weigh in. >> it is sad all the way around. i want to move on to the next hot topic out the midwest where some students and parents are calling for not just one, but two proms. one for everyone. and another prom where same sex couples are banned. weigh in on those proposals next. there's nothing like our grilled lobster and lobster tacos. the bar harbor bake is really worth trying. [ male announcer ] get more during red lobster's lobsterfest. with the year's largest selection of mouth-watering lobster entrees. like our delicious lobster lover's dream,

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back with the panel. out of indiana, some parents and students at one high school say they want two proms. one for everyone, one where same sex couples are banned. the school in question, it is important, it does not support banning gays from the prom, but that does not stop this group of parents and students at sullivan high school from meeting to discuss having what they call a second, their word, traditional prom. meantime, see this facebook page, other sullivan high school students launched this facebook page in protest, they say prom should be for everyone. and i want all of you to jump

in. if someone disagrees, jump in. it is okay to talk over someone else. rachel, i'll begin with you. what do you make of this? one prom and then a traditional prom? >> i think that calling it traditional doesn't change the fact that it is flat out bigotry. i also think it is an unbelievably encouraging sign that the school has definitely and definitively not signed on to it and that students at the school have come out against it. yeah, i mean, it is so clear not only wildly out of step with the country, which we heard in president obama's inaugural speech, we'll probably hear tonight in the state of the union, they're out of step with where dawson's creek was a decade ago. >> why not have a traditional prom and exclude black people? the idea, and some of the people quoted in this story, one of the students said, we love the homosexuals. we just don't agree with them. this is offensive, insulting. >> this is the quote, we want to make the public see that we love the homosexuals, but we don't think it is right, nor should it be accepted. continue. >> a pretty insulting way of

showing your love and how austria sized would that mike these young gays feel? i think this is revolting. >> i think these ridiculous people should have their own prom themselves. >> go ahead. >> in a way, i'm thankful for the story in that it is a good reminder that maybe we haven't come as far as we thought. sure, obama had a historic mention in his inauguration speech, will have one tonight, everybody loves the gay dads on "modern family" but some kid in indiana is being told that, like, a special ed teacher in that town basically said that gay people have no purpose. and so i think a story like this, when they come out, in a way i think it is a good thing, it is a reminder that even though this might be a small group, there are a lot of people who think that. >> does it surprise you these are kids? >> well, you know what, these are parents teaching them this. i really want to know, you know, any religion that you have that teaches you about loving and

caring for other people, not if you don't like them, you just exclude them, so it is just crazy that in 2013 that we have to still -- people are still thinking like this. >> more states are allowing gay marriage. >> people don't have their own special prom then. if that's what they want to do -- >> they're allowed. as we mentioned this isn't the school doing this. this is a private group of citizens, can have it on private property and that's their right. i will read this as we read one quote from one student, another student says this is bananas, said this, i absolutely hate how my town is get iting called anti-gay bigots because a few christians, in quotes, are planning a separate prom, not all of sullivan is like that. i can guarantee it. final word -- >> national embarrassment. >> final word. embarrassment for them. >> national embarrassment for the town and good for students standing up against this sort of exclusion. >> moving on, getting ugly, folks, talking about -- you've

been reading about the conditions each and every day on board this kcarnival cruise shi slowly limping into port, sewage running down the walls. air conditioning units not running. i could go on and on. up next, some good news for the thousands of passengers.

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welcome back. if you have been following this story about the stranded cruise ship passengers in the gulf of mexico, you know there are more than 3,000 of them experiencing seasickness on a whole new level right now. take a look at this picture. this is just into us showing these passengers, you see them all on the tip-top of the deck. this is the carnival ship triumph. this picture was taken yesterday from another carnival ship. no doubt those people are trying to get fresh air. wouldn't you escape the

downright nastiness that some of these people on board the ship are describing to us at cnn. listen. >> our room is flooded. there is sewage, raw sewage, pretty bad. when you walk in the hallway, you have to cover your face. we don't have any masks for breathing. it is disgusting. it is the worst thing ever. we're sleeping on a mattress because our room is so horrible. >> the ship is still slowly being towed to mobile, alabama. it is expected to limp into port as early as wednesday afternoon. sally richardson, if you have raw sewage running down your walls in your room, what are you doing? >> listen, i'm swimming to shore. i don't know what to do from here. i've been on one cruise. it was only for four days and things went well and i felt like i was in prison. i can't imagine. i definitely won't be on any

cruise soon. >> you're one an done. conner, what about you? are you a cruiser? what if you were having to fistfight someone for food? >> yeah, i've never been on -- i've been fascinated by them. it is a 4,000 person city with seven restaurants, four pools, a nightclub, a full size theater, i think 100,000 tons, and it floats. so to me, it is amazing this doesn't happen every time they leave port. it is a miracle that they ever work. but, yeah, sounds terrible, my heart goes out to the families. >> brooke, i haven't been on a -- >> they don't have a plan in place? it seems like first thing you would think of, okay, something happens while we're at sea, how do we evacuate the passengers? that, to me, seems amazing. i've been on cruises and that 4,000 person floating city thing is awesome when it works. but it is unthinkable to me they don't have a plan for when it doesn't. >> does this -- hearing this story, rachel, keep you from second guessing when you make a

reservation? >> you can't live your life that way. you assume everybody learns and puts further plans into place when you're moving on. if i was offered to go on a fabulous cruise like the last one i went on, i would seriously consider it. >> and for every cruise, you know, that goes awry, there are others that we're not talking about that are just fine. let me move on. i want to talk about jobs. we found this fascinating list because this talks about specifically where the jobs are now. u.s. news and world report, they put this list together of the 20 industries that are at record employment levels. some of them not much of a surprise, places like health care. but there are a couple that made us scratch our heads. bars and restaurants. 10.1 million jobs, a lot of us still eating out. myself included. booze, 400,000 jobs. people -- breweries and wineries, people are boozing. and celebrity handling. this is a job. 123,000 jobs, agents, you know, public figures, et cetera.

my question to you, sally, you're quite the job creator, apparently. >> i need lots of handlers. it took ten people to get me in here. but i think that people don't know that these jobs, you know, if you're a high profile assistant, these people are being paid a lot. you don't have a good life because you're really at the beck and call of these people, but you make a nice living. >> serious perks. howie? >> i don't think the cruise ship issue will be among those growth industries. what is sad -- i'm glad somebody in america is hiring, given the anemic state of the economy. but when you look at that list, nail salons, amusement parks, bars, as you said, doesn't seem like you're going to build the economy of the future on those kinds of service jobs. not many of them not terribly well paying jobs and not going to make up for all the jobs the higher wage manufacturing jobs that have been lost in america. i found the list kind of depressing. >> interesting you mentioned the nail salons. rachel, i don't know if you get

manis or pedis, is that a sign of the economy that we like to splurge on the little things? >> i think that's what's available, right? i think if those are the easy things to not cut off. maybe i won't go get a massage and a facial, but the very least i can get a manicure. what i found very fascinating about this was the growth in celebrity handling industry as well, it made me think of the change and what it means to be a celebrity these days and how many more celebrities are being minted online. so perhaps that could be part of it. >> is that a good thing? i feel like that's a whole other panel discussion, all unto itself. howie -- go ahead real quickly. >> i think that it is okay. we do need those other jobs for people. those people, not everyone is going to be an attorney or a doctor. other people need those everyday jobs and they contribute to their family and i think that does contribute to the economy. >> i'm dining out. i'm glad there are people working at restaurants that can help feed me. howard kurtz, tomorrow night, a

big night, going on bill o'reilly. what the heck are you going to be talking about? >> well, i took a -- i uttered some criticism of the host of the factor on reliable sources on sunday for not properly crediting nbc news for breaking the drone memo story while he was going off on nbc as he is want to do. o'reilly hit me back last night. we'll have a little fruitful, frank and full exchange of views about the media, nbc and this drone story. >> will there be yelling? >> well, i don't plan to yell. but if he ratchets up the decibel level, might just have to raise my voice a little bit. >> rachel, conner, sally, howard, thank you all, so, so much. appreciate it. hot topic panel on this tuesday. we'll be right back. [ female announcer ] what if the next big thing, isn't a thing at all?

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north korea rattles the world by launching a nuclear test. we'll tell you when america should be worried. i'm brooke baldwin. the news is now. 4,000 people are right now stuck on a cruise ship with sewage running down the walls, toilets broken, fistfights over food. and they are nowhere close to leaving this hell. plus, caught on video. the ex-cop on the run, apparently buys scuba gear just before turning into a fugitive. but why? and my tv crush, john

berman, joins me live to reveal the most bizarre moments from past state of the union addresses. >> the president of the united states! >> wait until you see what he found. hi there. i'm brooke baldwin. the united nations calling an emergency meeting condemning north korea's detonation of a nuclear bomb. keep in mind, this is the north's third test, it is the most powerful one yet, and we're talking roughly half the strength of the bomb dropped on hiroshima back in world war ii. south korea broadcasting this animation. watch this here in a moment. showing a series of underground tunnels where the nuclear bomb was detonated. foreign affairs correspondent jill dougherty joining me live here. in one sentence, what is north korea's goal here? >> it is a test to create a bomb that they can make small, that

can fit on a missile, that can hit the united states. that's the gist of it. >> bravo. we saw the video from north korea state tv of this burning u.s. city. what is the reaction today from the u.s.? >> it is very strong. obviously the united states thinks this is dangerous to the nth degree. listen to susan rice at the united nations, here is how she put it. >> the international community, this council has been quite clear, the actions of north korea are a threat to regional peace and security, international peace and security, and they are not acceptable. they will not be tolerated. and they will be met with north korea's increasing isolation and pressure under united nations sanctions. >> yeah, but will they actually be able, brooke, to do something, to stop them? it hasn't worked so far. and it is going to be hard to get something at the united nations, even if everybody criticizes this. >> jill dougherty, thank you. and we now know what christopher

dorner allegedly did on february 3rd, kill a cop's daughter and her fiance. so you have to wonder, what in the world is this man thinking as you see this guy in this just released video, smiling, acting friendly, his face in the upper right corner here, follow the arrow and you'll see him, the date on the video, time stop ed february 1st. tmz is reporting the man in the video is dorner and he purchased scuba gear from the store. here he is with the tanks. this is one of more than a thousand clues for investigators who have been searching for the former policeman for more than a week now. and dorner may be getting help. court documents talk about a dorner associate with the initials jy. casey wian is live at police headquarters. what did they say? any mention of jy? >> reporter: first talk about the video, brooke, that you just showed from the sporting goods store in southern california that shows dorner apparently buying scuba gear.

the significance of that is that the arrest warrant that was released yesterday that was filed last week says and indicates he either fled or tried to flee to mexico. the evidence for that is that he tried to steal a boat in the san diego area. also, his wallet and identification were found near the san ysidro port of end tri into mexico. here is what the lapd said about whether dorner is actually the man in that video, and the significance of it. >> the investigators and the task force are reviewing that. we have not made a determination as to whether or not that is chris dorner in the tape. so we cannot confirm whether or not that is him at this time. >> reporter: now, also, on that person named with the initials jy that you mentioned, that also from the arrest document, from the u.s. marshals service, information from thursday. it said that jy is someone, a

known associate of dorner, someone whose family has residential property in the big bear area, where that search for dorner continues even today. also says that his burning truck was found very near that property. officials will not say anything else about those two pieces of evidence, saying they do not want to compromise this investigation and this manhunt. brooke? >> casey wian, thank you. in washington, live this hour, a big moment for chuck hagel. the man president obama wants to be his next secretary of defense. the senate armed services committee expected to vote on hagel's nomination and while it is likely he will be confirmed, some republicans are still putting up a fight. meantime -- another big story. the story i should say brewing today in washington. state of the union tonight. and the president will be announcing to the nation that more than half of our troops are

coming home from afghanistan. we have been there for 11 plus years. president is set to announce he's bringing home 34,000 united states troops, 34,000 troops, gone, from afghanistan, by this time next year, 2014. that will cut the force by a little more than half. you will have 32,000 united states troops still in afghanistan after that point. okay, so state of the union, 9:00 tonight, and lots of pomp, lots of ceremony. if you watch closely enough, who knows, maybe something memorable. john berman is with me from washington. and, john, you know, while we once in a while, there is a little spontaneity at the state of the union, huh? >> there is always something there. good afternoon, brooke. it is remarkable here. it is in the constitution where it says that the president from time to time will give to the congress information on the state of the union. it is in our constitution to pick apart every word, every

gesture, every moment of the event for posterity and sometimes some of the best moments, they're not on prompter. >> mr. speaker, the president of the united states! >> reporter: from the very moment the president walks down the aisle, it is a parade of people watching. members of congress jockey for position like it is a justin bieber concert. former congressman dennis kucinich, maybe his the biggest belieber, he's always there. maybe the most famous, senator joe lieberman once appeared to get a chrkiss from president gee w. bush. in 1974, some inadvertent foreshadowing from president richard nixon -- >> i urge the congress to join me in mounting a major new effort to replace the

discredited president welfare system. >> reporter: in 2000, president clinton perhaps revealing his true political colors. >> tonight i ask you to support new funding for the following things, to make american communities more liberal -- livable. >> reporter: there was always loud applause, but also head shaking, stoney silence and the supreme example of disapproval when president obama criticized a campaign finance ruling, a full out mouthing of not true from supreme court justice samuel alito. for every nightmare, there is a dream. the forever dreamy tom brady, once in the stands for george w. bush. on the subject of dreams and nightmares, guess which one john mccain was having in 2007? a big yawn from harry reid in 2010. and for vice president biden, perhaps a moment of meditation in 2011. mr. biden's hands have their very own chapter in the state of the union history book. so much sitting and standing and

clapping, easy to see why he might have a timing issue. >> less than 1%. >> reporter: -- there is the air boxing fist pump -- >> that dream is why the working class kid from scranton can sit behind me. >> reporter: and, of course, the palms to the sky shrug. >> nobody messes with joe. am i right? >> reporter: we have the constitution to thanks for this annual address. and even if the state of the union is animated, sleepy, or dreamy, according to the president -- >> the state of our union will always be strong. >> john berman, this is why i love you. let me just say this, shouldn't everyone in that sacred room just always sort of assume you can be on camera at any moment in time, right? on your best behavior. >> absolutely. drink 12 cups of coffee and have a coca-cola. if you shut your eyes for five seconds, the camera will catch you and it will look like you're sleeping. >> isn't it frowned upon, this idea -- this notion of camping

out, even though the members of congress like to be on the aisles because that's where they know the cameras will be. >> you can't leave your bag or can't save a seat. if you want a seat, you have to go there early this morning and stay there. our eagle eye producer in the house saw sheila jackson lee of texas and samford bishop of georgia in there at 10:00 this morning trying to save the prime seats right there on the aisle. >> john berman, we will be looking for you tonight amidst all of this a-team coverage. john berman, my favorite, thank you, sir. every member of congress can bring a guest to the state of the union. every single one. and as we mentioned, ted nugent will be the guest tonight of texas republican steve stockman. nugent, of course, the outspoken proponent of gun rights. and as it turns out, a lot of other guests have connections to the gun debate. you have former congresswoman gabby giffords. she will be in attendance. she suffered that bullet wound to the head in 2011.

her husband, mark kelly, will be there as well. as will the parents of hadiya pendleton. hadiya, shot dead in chicago, one week after performing at the president's inauguration in which she took part. tony bennett will be there as well at the invitation of house speaker nancy pelosi. bennett is an outspoken supporter of gun control. and don't forget, catch cnn's special coverage tonight 7:00 p.m. eastern live right here on cnn. a remarkable story out of texas, a man sentenced to 99 years in prison for murder is cleared and walks out a free man. so what's the first thing you would do after 32 years behind bars? >> i want a cheeseburger and french fries and banana split. >> the one piece of evidence that allowed him to enjoy his favorite meal. k... i'm like...yeah, ok... little did i know that one week later i wasn't smoking.

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some of the host stories in

a flash, rapid fire. roll it. first up, the vatican says pope benedict has a pacemaker. his spokesman says benedict got it when he was a cardinal. he says doctors replace the device's batteries about three months ago and it had nothing to do with his decision to resign. meantime, the pope's brother, george ratzinger, says he thinks the church will choose another european to replace benedict. >> translator: i'm certain a pope will come from the new continent, but whether it will be now, i have my doubts. in europe, we have many very able people. and the africans are still not so well known and maybe do not have the experience yet. i believe in later years popes will come from different countries, different parts of the world. at the moment, i believe the post will remain with a european. >> remember that little boy ethan? he was snatched from that school bus, held hostage for six days inside this bunker in alabama? well, now, 6-year-old ethan and

his mother are speaking out about the whole ordeal for first time to dr. phil. >> how did you feel when you heard he might be crying for his mom? >> i wanted to be there. i wanted to take his place. >> did he see mr. dykes shot and killed? >> he absolutely did. he says the army came in and shot the bad man. >> and the coast guard is holding hearings today in portsmouth, virginia, about the hms bounty. the ship and the captain were lost at sea off north carolina during superstorm sandy. they want to know if the captain put his crew and ship at risk by leaving port. 14 crew members were rescued. the captain and female crew member were not. the coast guard wants to figure out if there should be any industry or regulatory changes as a result. and a man in texas enjoying the sweet, sweet taste of freedom and burgers and shakes after spending 32 years in prison for a murder he didn't commit. so much emotion here. imagine, a courtroom in texas,

yesterday, when randolph orledge was released, he was serving a 99-year sentence for stabbing a woman to death back in 1984. 11 years ago arledge got the innocence project on his side and they went after, as they do, dna. after court, he was looking forward to that big greasy meal. >> i want to get some cheeseburgers and french fries and banana splits. >> arledge is looking forward, he says, to getting marry. he's engaged to a woman in tennessee he met while in prison. he will have to serve parole for an unrelated armed robbery conviction. cereal and soda. pepsi introducing a new mountain dew drink for breakfast. here it is. being called kick start. the company says it doesn't consider this an energy drink, even though it is packed with caffeine. why the new product, you ask?

mountain dew says customers wanted an alternative to coffee and tea in the morning. ♪ kesha headlining this weekend's nba all-star game, specifically the pregame show. she'll be joining ludacris and b.o.b. in houston. watch it on our sister network tnt sunday night. watching tv, your favorite show is interrupted by this emergency warning, right? most people, they take it pretty seriously. in wisconsin, a specific announcement had some viewers so panicked about bodies rising from the graves and attacking the living. you got to hear the warning and how it actually made air. omnipotent of opportunity. you know how to mix business... with business. and you...rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle. and go. you can even take a full-size or above. and still pay the mid-size price.

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now when you buy one kyocera duraxt rugged phone for $69.99, you'll get four free. other offers available. visit a sprint store, or call 855-878-4biz. let's see what you got. rv -- covered. why would you pay for a hotel? i never do. motorcycles -- check. atv. i ride those. do you? no. boat. house. hello, dear. hello. hello. oh! check it -- [ loud r&b on car radio ] i'm going on break! the more you bundle, the more you save. now, that's progressive. let's talk about beyonce. she's on a super streak. first the super bowl, then at the grammys, now headlining the essence music festival. and, oh, yeah, 31-year-old

singer going on a world tour. people.com reports as part of her tour, beyonce will be returning to new orleans to be part of the essence event in july. comedian sarah silverman is taking a serious stand for family members who were detained by police in jerusalem. officers arrested rabbi susan silverman and her 17-year-old daughter for praying at the wall, wearing a prayer shaw traditionally worn only by men. the two were released several hours later. sarah silverman took to twitter to praise her family saying in part, quote, she's so proud of her amazing sister and niece. and the world may finally know what killed nobel prize winning poet pablo neruda. conspiracy theories since he died in the 1973 military coup in chile. his exhumation was scheduled for today. during the coup, he was in the hospital with cancer and was about to head into exile, but friends say he was murdered.

the chilean court says it hopes to clear up any doubts. you're watching tv and an emergency alert pops up. this is not just any alert, folks. it is warning that zombies are out and that they're hungry. >> authorities in your area have reported that the bodies of the dead are rising from their graves and attacking the living. follow the messages on screen that will be updated as information becomes available. do not attempt to approach or apprehend these bodies as they are considered extremely dangerous. >> yeah. so this is obviously a hoax. someone hacked into the alert system of some montana tv stations, dan simon live for us in san francisco. it is kind of funny. let's be honest. how does this happen? >> reporter: well, first of all, can you imagine if you're the guy sitting in the control room at that station? >> no. >> reporter: you're the general manager and look up.

apparently what happened is somebody figured out how to hack into the emergency alert system and they pulled off what you might think is a pretty good prank depending on your point of view. the tv station sent out a statement, just reads someone apparently hacked into the system and announced on krtv and the cw that there was an emergency in several montana counties. the message did not originate from krtv, the cbs affiliate, and there is no emergency. our engineers are investigating to determine what happened and if it affected other media outlets. well, brooke, it turns out it did affect a couple of other outlets. in michigan, same thing happened there, same hackers figured out how to get into that system and they're calling this the zombie apocalypse. so there you go. >> and there you go. dan simon, thank you. no word if there are any zombies in new orleans today. keep in mind tomorrow is ash wednesday, which means today is big old party. fat tuesday.

mardi gras is in full swing. we have been hearing, you know, a lot of trumpets from this live web cam. if you want to sit at work and waste your time, there is a live web cam, you can watch everyone hanging out on bourbon street. mardi gras has 50 parades, the feast and celebration right before lent. you never know who you're going to see there. celebration of a different kind tonight in new york. one that focuses on man's best friend, dog owners and lovers will be watching very closely as the westminster dog show awards its best in show prize. aw. considered the most prestigious dog award in the world. owners spend thousands of dollars. not on her. but on dogs, pampering their pooches in hopes of winning the honor. sorry, straight face. honor of the sports illustrated cover girl goes to kate upton. she may look fiamiliar. she was on the cover last year. this is the fifth time a model appeared on a cover actually in

back-to-back years. and once you open the issue, not just looking at the front of it, you opt issue and you will recognize perhaps another face, you recognize this woman? this is katherine webb. maybe the name doesn't ring a bell, the girlfriend of alabama quarterback a.j. mccarron. webb was thrust into the national spotlight this past month, commentator brent musburger repeatedly pointing out, she was sitting in the stands, how beautiful she was during college football's championship game. good news today for more than 4,000 people stranded on board that cruise ship in the gulf of mexico and not a moment too soon. >> our room is flooded. there is sewage, raw sewage, pretty bad. >> next, why passengers have some reason to be excited today. [ designer ] enough of just covering up my moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. i decided enough is enough. ♪

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a dream vacation has fast become a nightmare for thousands of passengers on board this carnival cruise ship. break down at sea. look at all these people at the tip-top there, probably getting fresh air. slowly this cruise limping its way to mobile, alabama. folks on board this ship say food and water are scarce. and the smell of sewage, which is apparently filling the hallways, is dripping down the walls. that's kind of sickening. listen. >> the staff is doing a really

good job, under control as far as keeping the food coming, trying the best they can. only food on the top of the ship. that's kind of inconvenient. there is only a couple of lines. it takes three and a half hours for food. the smells are -- our room is flooded. there is sewage, raw sewage, pretty bad. when you walk in the hallway, you have to cover your face. we don't have any masks for breathing. it is disgusting. it is the worst thing ever. we're sleeping on mattresses. our room is so horrible. there is a lot of speculation and rumors going around. and everybody is trying to do the best they can. >> the only time anyone really broke down is when we all kind of fell apart when we realized we had to wait for someone to tow us. but carnival has been good. they're meeting our needs the best they can.

all the crew members have been very nice. you know, there is times when the ship is leaning pretty hard and you're worried that you're flowing to flip over and wondering if they're telling you the truth about that being normal or, you know, where the actual tow ships are. >> let's remember why they were stuck first place. there was a fire that knocked out power, crippling the water and plumbing systems on sunday. john zarrella is in mexico where this towed ship was supposed to head here. we know it changed course. >> reporter: what happened was initially they believed that progresso, mexico, the port is about 20 minutes from where we are, was going to be the closest place to bring it. but as the ship was without power, it began to drift and the currents were so strong in the gulf, it drifted about 90 miles north. so by the time the tugs got

there, it made no sense to come down to progresso. made more sense to tour it back to mobile, alabama. carnival is saying it is going to be some time on thursday before the ship actually arrives, but u.s. coast guard, the captain of a coast guard cutter that is actually escorting the triumph said it could be as early as late wednesday night when they actually get close to mobile or to the port. so sometime late overnight hours, wednesday into thursday, or as late as thursday afternoon. >> you hear the tales of sewage dripping down the walls. what is carnival saying about that? >> carnival is saying in general, look, some toilets are working in the public areas and some of the rooms. there is really no electricity on the boat. so -- but karan racarnival is s they're providing as best they can for the people. some of the showers are working. so that people can take a

shower. some of the elevators are working. and that they also had two other cruise ships pull up alongside of the triumph and drop off supplies and drop off additional personnel to help to care with the people on board. addressing the issue of raw sewage, carnival has not addressed that. >> what about the coast guard? how hands on are they? have they boarded the ship? >> reporter: no, the coast guard has been standing on station and the coast guard cutter vigorous is there. and if there was a need, they would take whatever action they could. but their job is basically to be on station and then to provide an escort just in case they're needed as the ship goes into mobile. they have not boarded the ship. the captain of the vigorous has said that they in fact are in communication and have been in communication with the ship's master on the triumph, but that's it. they're just there as protective measures and to guide the triumph in to -- into port.

>> john zarrella for me in mexico. thank you. also today, new revelations about pope benedict's health. did you know he has a pacemaker? this appears to be the first time the vatican acknowledged this. his spokesman says the device didn't have any bearing on the pope's decision to resign. this is the shot seen around the world today. a couple of hours after the pope announced his resignation, lightning appeared in the sky above st. peter's basilica. and did you know that when it is time to choose the pope's successor, cardinal roger mahoney will be among those voting. just two weeks ago mahoney was stripped of all his public duties by the archbishop of los angeles amid revelations he helped conceal child molestation by priests. he will be voting for the new pope. and get this, back here in the u.s., one guy says he is considering the job. >> they want me to take his

place. i said, you know, i don't know about that. >> why not? >> i don't know. i travel too much. you know, i don't know if i can stay at the vatican that long. so, you know, i don't know. but, yeah, pope got tired. pope said, man, i'm tired. i got to go do something else. i'm not doing a good job. the pope got tired. he got tired, man. >> chris tucker, you have a couple more weeks to decide. the pope's last day is february 28th. forgot your wallet? no worries. you can now pay with a hash tag. stick around to see how this is going to work.

american express is now turning twitter into its very own vending machine. cardholders can sync their cards to their twitter accounts and buy products by providing a special hash tag. zain asher is in new york. they're just rolling this idea out. how does this work? >> again, well, brooke, you know, surprisingly twitter is not going to be getting a cut from any of the items sold on its site through american express. but, hey, it is a great way for twitter to offer real value to advertisers. now companies rather than just advertising their product can use twitter as a platform for direct sales, valuable. also, let's say you want to buy

a kindle or xbox, you have to send out a tweet. you have 100 followers, advertisers have 100 people knowing you're buying their product and word of mouth, hugelyvaluable to advertisers. >> twitter is a public medium. what about security concerns here? >> there are some concerns. but you don't have to worry about tweeting something by mistake. and then getting charged for it. here is how it works you tweet hash tag and then a reply tweet and then confirmation e-mail. no risk of buying something by my ta mistake. american express says there won't be any sharing of people's credit card details with twitter. so if your account is broken into, your credit card information should still be safe. brooke? >> okay, zain asher, thank you very much. coming up, we'll talk to our chief congressional correspondent dana bash about the big vote happening today. we know that chuck hagel, former

senator, is the president's top pick to take the next spot after leon panetta is ready to go and that secretary of defense spot. how will that vote go down? will this be smooth sailing for this former senator? we'll find out coming up. ♪ [ male announcer ] start with a groundbreaking car. good. then invent an entirely new way to buy one. no. no. no. yes! a website that works like a wedding registry. but for a car. first, you customize it. then let people sponsor the car's parts as gifts. dad sponsors the engine for your birthday.

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when the president speaks tonight for the state of the union, the parents of the gunned down teenager from his chicago neighborhood will be there to hear him in person. sitting beside michelle obama

will be the parents of hadiya pendleton, the young woman from the obama's neighborhood in chicago, shot and killed a week after she performed at the president's inauguration in washington. the honor comes as chicago police announce the arrest of pendleton's alleged shooters. they are 18-year-old michael ward, on the left, and 20-year-old kenneth williams. pendleton's cousin spoke by phone to anderson cooper last night. >> on behalf of my family, we are elated to know that there is one person or two now off the streets that could very well cause harm to my neighbor, another relative, or anyone in the world. we're excited to know that the police, the chicago police department worked diligently. however, there is no level of comfort. not long-term comfort. you know, we are still miserable.

miserable would only be the term to really acknowledge the feelings of the parents and the family. >> chicago police say the men fired at pendleton by mistake as they were going after rival gang members instead. all right that's a fifth-floor problem... ok. not in my house! ha ha ha! ha ha ha! no no no! not today! ha ha ha!

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in the next couple of hours, big moment for chuck hagel, the man president obama wants to be secretary of defense. the senate armed services committee expected to vote on hagel's nomination today and while it is likely he will be confirmed, some republicans are still very much so putting up a fight. i want to go straight to chief congressional correspondent dana bash live on the hill here. and senator lindsey graham specifically one of those republicans making headlines, especially after this past sunday. he just spoke. what did he say? >> reporter: you know, the complaint among all republicans so far in fact you saw david vitter, republican from louisiana, speaking just there, is that they don't think that chuck hagel has given them enough information, information the senators asked for, specifically on speeches he made, after he left the senate, who he made them to, how much money he made and accusations of him hiding information. but the democratic chair, if you

see him right there, carl levin, he made perfectly clear he thinks enough is enough, that hagel has gone above and beyond in giving the information required for confirmation. so that's why after you hear the senators talk, which as you know, brooke, senators like to do, and make their points, we're going to see a vote, likely going to be pretty much along party lines, but then the next big thing to look for is what happens on the senate floor. the senate majority leader harry reid said he hopes to hold a vote to actually confirm hagel for defense secretary by the end of this week. but the question is going to be whether or not any republican is going to filibuster it. it is important to keep in mind at this point it looks according to our vote count it is not a question of if, just a question of when, whether or not republicans are going to gum up the works and require some procedural hurdles to be gone over before chuck hagel is confirmed. we'll probably know the answer to that tonight whether or not there will be a formal filibuster.

according to our vote count, we think that chuck hagel seems to be in good shape to be the next -- >> we'll look for that news in the midst of the state of the union there in washington. dana bash, thank you very much. and the 2000 olympic games in sydney changed the face of american wrestling. that's the year that rulon gardner from wyoming beat this russian wrestler who hadn't lost in 13 years. look at this picture. this american, on the right, this is an american dairy farmer took home the gold medal. lots and lots of pride. guess what, today, he's angry. he's angry because the international olympic committee wants to toss out the sport that made gardener a household name. wrestling is going to have to fight against seven other sports, sports like baseball, karate, if it wants to be in the 2020 olympic games. rulon gardner joins me on the phone today from logan, utah. give it to me straight. how angry are you? >> well, you know, it is not a

matter of how mad i am. i think it is just disappointed. i think it is a travesty to the olympic movement that one of the two original olympic sports is being dropped. and there olympic sports is being dropped and it's kinds of a one accent all, and we're find of stuck in the situation we're at and hopefully we're going to fight to keep this sport alive. >> i know it's one of the oldest olympic sports, but when you hear from the ioc, maybe it's not as relevant in sports as maybe cycling. they have wrestling federations involved and we actually had 28 different countries win medals in the london olympics last year and so then wrestling the sport of wrestling is all over the world, i've been to cuba eight times wrestling down there, i've

been to come in additimunism, i china and this sport has the best the world has to offer, i think it's a travesty, and the best well known sports out there and to put it on the chopping block and say it's gone so they can add maybe another more main stream sport. >> it sounds like wrestling really has been your ticket to seeing the world. but beyond a personal reason for a future wrestler, if the wrestling federation doesn't win this fight n terms of a sport, how is it impacted? >> if we don't win this fight, the international sport of wrestling may diminish and the -- the sport overall, if we don't keep olympic wrestling going, i think we could be in for a free for all and i don't think that being a good ending for anybody so hopefully we can

put the ifc to see that we have not stopped fighting and we want to show you the world that we deserve to be at the olympics. >> olympic get medalist, rolan gardner. as we have been telling you, president obama's state of the union speech is tonight. coming up next, we'll take a look at some of the more memorable moments from previous speeches. what john berman has found. cold multi-symptom nighttime ]® relieves nasal congestion. nyquil® cold and flu doesn't.

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200 miles stretching all the way from midlothian texas to austin, this is how long this funeral professicessional is. kyle was shot dead at a remote shooting range earlier this month, considered one of the best shooting snipers in u.s. history. he survived four tours of duty by investigators say he was killed by a man he was trying to help.

his widow, describing kyle at his funeral in arlington. >> i stand before you a broken woman, but i am now and always will be the wife of a man who's a warrior both on and off the battlefield. >> today you see those slick streets? in the rain, thousands of texans lined the roadways and the overpasses. the procession made up of about 200 motorcycles, busses, and police cruisers. okay, state of the union, 9:00 tonight, you know the deal, a lot of pomp, a lot of ceremony. and if you watch closely enough, every once in a while they do something spontaneous at the state of the union. john berman takes a look at some of the most memorable moments from previous speeches.

>> mr. speaker, to the president of the united states. >> reporter: from the moment the president walks down the aisle, it is a parade of people watching. former congressman denniss c kucinich, maybe the most famous senator joe lieberman once appeared to get a kiss from george w. bush. sometimes mr. freud seems to seep into a president's speech. in 1974, some inadvertent foreshadowing from president richard nixon. >> i urge the congress to join me in mounting a major new effort to disgrace the president -- present new welfare president. >> tonight i ask you to support new funding for the following

things, to make american communities more liberal -- livable. >> there was always loud applause, but also head shaking, stony silence and the extreme disapproval and a full out yelling of not true from supreme court justice samuel al liee al. on the subject of dreams and nightmares, guess w which one john mccain was having in 2007, oh, a big yawn from harry reid in 2010, and from vice president biden, perhaps a moment of meditation. but so much sitting and standing and clapping, easy to see why he might have a timing issue. >> less than 1%. >> there's the air boxing fist pump. >> that dream is why a working

class kid from scranton can sit behind me. >> and of course the palms to the sky shrug. >> because nobody messes with joe. >> reporter: we have the constitution to thank for this annual address and even if the state of the union is animated, sleepy or dreamy, according to the president -- >> the state of our union will always be strong. >> reporter: john berman, cnn, washington. did you know that every member of congress can bring a guest to the state of the union? every single one can. ted nugent will be the guest tonight of republican congressman steve stockton, on outspoken proponent of gun rights and former congresswoman gabrielle giffords, she will be in attendance, her husband mark kelly and as the with parents of